Former Corcoran High School star Camille Murphy, one of the best point guards to come out of Syracuse, has been recommended to become the new coach of the Skaneateles Lakers girls basketball team.

The hiring of Murphy, 35, who played at the University of Georgia and spent time on the practice teams of the WNBA's Washington Mystics and Atlanta Dream, must still be approved by the Skaneateles Board of Education, said superintendent Ken Slentz, who confirmed Monday that she has been selected to be the next coach.

If approved, Murphy would replace Jill Blasi, who coached the Lakers for the past five seasons, going 16-7 last winter and compiling a 69-33 mark - a winning percentage of nearly 65 percent. (see related story)

Murphy, who scored 1,512 career points and led Jim Marsh's Corcoran Cougars to a state public schools championship in 1998, was named the All-Central New York Player of the Year in 1997 by the Syracuse Newspapers. She went on to play for Andy Landers on Georgia teams that regularly contended in the Southeastern Conference and made the NCAA Tournament Final Four in 2000.

She has coached at several small colleges, including a stint as head coach at Green Mountain College in Vermont, and she served as a player development coach at Syracuse Academy of Science last season. Murphy also coaches AAU basketball for the Syracuse Royals.

"I think this is a good fit. I'm excited," Murphy said Sunday evening. "This is a young team."

Murphy described her style as patient, and extremely focused on skills development, something she did for SAS last year.

"I'm very laid back," she said. "I'm not a screamer."

Murphy said she will emphasize training and conditioning and will mold her teams around the individual strengths of the players rather than trying to fit them into a system.

She's not a big fan of a thick playbook, so expect the Lakers to run a more "free-flowing" offense rather than a lot of set plays.

While Murphy played at a high level for years, she said her new players won't be intimidated with her in charge.

"You just want them to grow" as players and as people, she said.

Murphy said it was hard to leave working with the SAS program, coached by Reggie Pickard, after just one year. But she has wanted to run a program on her own now that she's back in Syracuse.

Lessons along the way from coaches such as Marsh and Landers have helped prepare her, Murphy said.

She's anxious to give back to a basketball community "that's given me tons."

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